Steam-cooker.



PATENTED FEB; 5, 1907.

0. E. SWARTZBAUGH.

STEAM COOKER. APPLICATION FILED 001229, 1903 'rn: uomus PETERS co wuumcvou. n. c.

CHARLES E. SWARTZBAUGH, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

STEAM-COOKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5, 1907.

Application filed October 29, 1903. Serial No. 179.018.

To It 1071,0711 it 'II'J/(I/I/ concern/.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. Swanrz- BAUGH, a citizen of the United States, resi ing at Tcleco, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Cookers; and I do declare the following to be a lull, clear, and exact (.eccription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled. in the art to which it appcrta-ins to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyin mwingc, and to the letters ana figures of t once marked thcreo which 'fcrm a part of this specification.

In that class utensils employed, in cooking by steam heat the device hrretzrtcre usually employed has consisted of a cylinfrical sheet-metal vessel clo -ed at bottom andv having at top a steam-tight removable cover or lid. The bottom of this vessel is supplied with water, the vessel is placed over a fire, and food to be cooked is supported within he chamber of the vessel and cooked by cX- posure to the steam. In these vessels a series of receptacles for the food, one above another, Q isposed within the chamber of the cooker. This term of cooker has been found in practice to be highly etlicient, but a serious objcctien is the iiliculty oi reaching an inspecting the contents cl the food receptacles below the one next to the top or lil. In cookers of cylin rical form it is impracticable to overc c-mo this (itliculty by the use of openings in the sai-ics of the vessel, owing to the size of the openings required and. the itficulty of obtaining tight joints for the closure of such epei'iings.

My invent-i211 relates to and its object to provide means for OVGIOOHElUg the (iiliculties here pointed out, and more particularly to provi e a steam-cooker of such form and with such openings as will permit the inspection and handling of either of the foodreceptaclcs without disturbing any of the other food-receptacles, anil which openings may be supplied. with cheap eilicient steamtight closures.

My invention also relates to certain details of construction he einatter described, and pointed out in the claims.

I attain these objects by means of the devices and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and shown, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 1s a perspective tront view of my cooker with one of the doors open and with the other door removed. 'Fig. 2 it, a transverse sectional elevation of a part of the bottom of my cooker; Fig. 3, a vertical acct mal elcvatizm of part of the rear wall of my cooker, and Fig. 4- is a cross-section through a portion of the front wall out near of the cooker on the line 4 I o'l Fig. 1.

Like numerals of reference in..icate like parts throughout the (rawinge.

In the (.rawings, 1 are the sides, 2 the back, and 3 the front, of the bcQy of my cooker. The bottom 4 is contrai an of smaller area than the transverse area oi the cooker. It is substantially rectangular, but has rounded corners and an upwar ly-projecting flange 5, which is joined at its upper margin to the ledge 6, which is rectangular in outline and joined to the bottom margins of the sides, front, and back. The reduce-.1. bottom forms a vessel or tank for thc reception of water and is Formed seamless by stamping and (.rawing. The top is at its margins flat and at its center is slightly conical, as shown, so that the water of con encation on the under silo of the top will low to the outer efgc of the top and. not crap onto the Food contained. in the cooker. To the opposing faces of the si es of the cooker are secured at correspon ing heights a series of light brackets 7 for the support cl pans or shelves which contain the food to be cooked.

In the front of my cooker are two openings 8 S, which are substantially rectangular in outline, but which have rounded corners, as at f). The margins of the openings are provided with inwardly-turned flanges 10, which are slightly beveled inwardly, so that the inner edge of the flange is smaller than thc outer edge. The flanges 10 are stamped and drawn seamless and integral with the piece el sheet metal composing the front. The openings S are provided with doors ]1,l1ingcd to the body of the cooker and which'are composed, prcl'erably, of two separated parallel pieces of sheet metal united at their margins by outwardly-bcvelcd pieces 12. Those latter pieces are seamless, are termed, preforably, integral with the inner sheet of the door, are rounded at their corners, and are stamped and drawn of exactly such size and shape as to accurately lit the flanged openings 8, thus insuring steam-tight joints. The outer sheets of the doors are extended to form flanges 13, which when the doors are closed fit tightly against the front of the cooker. The doors are provided with suit able fastenings 14 for holding the doors in closed position.

In addition to the steam-tight joint furnished by the construction. here described I overcome the difficulties encountered in manufacturing sheet-metal closures for openings in sheet-metal receptacles, as heretofore attempted. In devices of this class the openings and their closures have usually had square corners,. and it has been found in practice next to impossible to stamp and draw the metal so that the corners will be perfect and not leak steam. The beveled meeting surfaces and their rounded corners above described fully overcome these dilficulties.

In one corner of thetop of the cooker is a circular opening having a flaring mouth, into which fits closely a small funnel 15, the bottom of which is extended, as a pipe 16, to near the bottom of the chamber of the cooker. The funnel and tube serve as a means for supplying water to the bottom of the cooker. The lower end of the tube 16 should be so near the bottom of the cooker and the water level in the tank-bottom should be such that the lower end of the tube is normally submerged. In the funnel-piece at the top of the tube is a disk whistle which will be blown by the escaping steam as a signal when the water in the cooker becomes so low as to uncover the lower end of the tube. The whistle is provided with a crank 17, by which it may be turned edgewise to leave the passage through the tube unobstructed, so that water will freely pass through the tube.

. Secured to the interior face of the back of the cooker near its bottom is a segment of a flattened tube 18. The margins of this piece being soldered to the back of the cooker there is formed between the piece 18 and the back of the cooker a thin elongated chamber. At the bottom this chamber leads out through an opening 19 through the bottom of the cooker. (See Fig. 2.) In the face of the piece 18 is an outwardly-struck portion 20, through which is an opening 20 To the inner concave side of the piece 18,,directly over the hole 20 is secured a thin fiat plate 21, through which is a hole 22. This hole is covered' by a thin fiat outwardly-opening check-valve 23, which is supported and held in normally closed position by means of a flat spring 24, the upper end of which is secured to the inner side of the piece 18. The valve 23 prevents the escape of steam through the holes 19, 20 and 22. The tenl sion of the spring 24 is such as to resist the internal steam-pressure in the cooker to a given extent, beyond which the spring yields, permitting the valve to open and the steam to escape down onto the stove or into the fire. Thus by means of the spring-valve the steam is confined in the cooker, but is prevented from attaining an undue pressure.

The operation and advantages of my device will now be readily understood. ater is supplied to the tank-bottom, food-receptacles are slipped onto the brackets 7 through the open doors, the doors are tightly closed, and the bottom of the cooker is placed on the stove or over the fire. New

either of the receptacles and its contents may, by opening the upper or lower door, be readily inspected without removing or disturbing either of the other food-receptacles. The joints of the doors being steam-tight, the lower end of the tube 16 being water-sealed, .and the valve 23 being closed steam, vapors, and odors are confined under a moderate pressure until the internal steam-pressure is suflicient to open the valve. The opening of the valve permits excess of steam to escape downwardly and inwardly, as indicated by the dotted arrows, onto the stove or into the fire.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is v 1, In a steam-cooker, a vertical wall of sheet metal having therethrough an angular opening with rounded corners, said opening having an integral inwardly-turned seamless beveled flange, and a door for said opening consisting of two thicknesses of sheet metal, the inner thickness having an integral seamless beveled margin corresponding With the flange of said opening, the outer thickness of the door having extended margins to form a flange to overlap the margin of said opening.

2. In a steam-cooker, a substantially rectangular top having in one corner a downwardlyprojecting funnel combined with a tube adapted to slip through said funnel, and a funnel-shaped member at the top of said tube adapted to fit into the first-mentioned funnel to form a steam-tight joint, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES E. SWARTZBAUGH. itnesses S. A. DORLAND, W. T. S. OHARA. 

